The dashboard redesign is the headline for the 2.3 release. It will also raise the minimum PHP version requirement to 5.4. We're tentatively scheduling its release for March 2016.

For 2.4, we're going to be reworking the dispatcher and a great deal of controller methods to implement a proper native API in Vanilla. We're not yet formally planning out what other changes may be in it, but I'm guessing the Profile Extender is going to be on the short list for some love by then. It's tentatively scheduled for the second half of 2016.

As you can see, we have a pretty ambitious R&D schedule ahead of us. Especially when you consider our last few releases:

2.0.17 - Jan 18, 2011

2.0.18 - Nov 3, 2011

2.1 - Apr 28, 2014

2.2 - Nov 12, 2015

Four years to get thru the last 2 releases! But before that we were on a whirlwind - 19 releases in 17 months (we used the third point number for marking both feature and security releases during the 2.0 series). So what we're going to do now is find a happy medium: 2-3 releases a year. This will keep things sane for folks who need to upgrade (and coordinate the releases), but quick enough that folks contributing will see the fruit of their efforts sooner than later.

I've opened the 2.3 beta milestone on GitHub to track what we're targeting before we fork for the next release. Let us know what else needs to get in there!

@hgtonight said:
I like the Vanilla settings controller being removed, and I am sure this will simplify the dispatcher. ... This PR sets an implicit requirement that controller names be globally unique.

That's the crux of the matter. We're refactoring the dispatcher in order to accommodate a native API (what we're calling "API v2", slated for 2.4) and to improve its performance (a perennial sore point in our architecture). Controller names will indeed need to unique starting with that release.

Happy to answer anything else I can about it, that's all I can think of that's relevant.

I am now sure 2.2 is not really ready for PHP 7, fyi. It may run but it throws notices like confetti. It's under active work right now. We'll be tightened up for 2.3. We're super excited to get those performance gains. @Tim is gonna sleep a little easier.

HTML emails: ready to ship! We're going to stick the new config for text vs HTML emails in 2.2.1 so that, if you're keeping up with your updates, it'll keep your text email format until you opt-in. Trying to avoid surprises. New forums from 2.3 onward will default to HTML emails. Awwwww yeah!

@linc: An understanding question. There are not much issues left for 2.3 in the Github 2.3 Beta Milestone. Do you keep adding things to this milestone or are we close to a coming release?

Also there is no 2.4 Milestone defined, so it's not easy to follow what upcoming releases will have on its roadmap. Not that it's super needed but it helps to get an overview and guides contributors what to work on.

Regarding php7: My boards works well except the posting messages which are not displayed. So i guess it's almost around the corner. Juchuu. Speed!

I'm not doing a great job of reflecting the roadmap on GitHub accurately yet. It's complicated for me to juggle our company roadmap while maintaining transparency on the public parts. I'm getting closer, tho.

One complication right now is that the Dashboard redesign got bumped a couple months. So now I'm trying to gauge whether to hold 2.3 for that or bump it to 2.4.

I'm leaning towards bumping it, but prioritizing PHP7 compatibility and wrapping that up this month. We also have a new discussion sorting & filtering module that I expect will be making its debut in 2.3.

Discussions sorting & filtering has been re-architected for 2.3, but it will not have UI until 2.4 (i.e. you can hook into it with a plugin, but a normal user can't sort things on their own yet unless a plugin adds UI).

Dashboard redesign is officially moved to 2.4, but great progress has been made and I hope to have more news about this soon.